


delirium

by Vennat



Series: Whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Delirium, Fever, Five hargreeves is bad at feelings, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Isolation, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sickfic, Sobriety, Whump, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-07 23:29:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20984186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vennat/pseuds/Vennat
Summary: Klaus, sick with a fever, relives Reginald's "training" in vivid detail, and Five does his best to care for his brother.For the Whumptober 2019 prompts delirium and isolation.





	delirium

**Author's Note:**

> me, absolutely manic, banging this out during class and in every spare moment i have like a fucking madman

Klaus wakes up feeling like shit. Not the usual waking-up-from-a-bender shit, but still shit. His head aches, pain pulsing from his sinuses in a staccato rhythm. He swallows, and it feels like he downed a mouthful of sand.

Yeah. Shit.

He rattles in one breath, two, before cracking open dry, crusty eyes. Ben peers down at him from his dresser, one of his mysterious ghostly books perched in his lap. 

“You okay?” he asks, and Klaus musters up a smile for him.

“Peachy.” He croaks out. Ben looks at him dubiously. Klaus ignores him and rolls out of bed and to his feet with a thump. He sways dangerously but stays upright despite it. He decides it isn’t worth it to find real clothes, and that any of his siblings that he runs into are just going to have to deal with him and his sweaty pajamas because he is  _ not  _ expending his limited energy on changing into fresh clothes. He sweeps a blanket over his bare shoulders and begins the trudge downstairs.

(If he has to stop on the stairs more times than he’d like to admit, well, that’s between him and the 15 ghosts he sees on the way downstairs.)

Somehow, he makes it downstairs and to the stiff, ugly couches that feel like heaven after such a tiring journey downstairs. Ben says it’s a miracle he managed it, and Klaus doesn't have the energy to tell him that the Little Girl God doesn't give two shits about him.

He grunts in reply to his dead brother, closes his eyes and slips into a restless sleep.

________________

  
  


If it were any of his other siblings, Five thinks, he may have been more surprised to find them sleeping on the couch. Klaus always did lower societal expectations like that.

His brother may be asleep by definition, but it looks as if he is doing anything but resting. His face is waxy, and his brow is covered in sweat. His bare chest heaves as he breathes in, short and fast, and he’s murmuring something- Five can see his lips moving- but from this far away Five can’t hear him. He steps closer.

“No, please, dad, let me out, please please I promise--” He breathes in, sharp, “No! No more, dad, please,” He cries out, curling into himself, and Five’s chest  _ hurts.  _ Reggie’s been dead for months, and Klaus has reported that he’s seen neither hyde nor hair of his ghost, and yet the old fucker  _ still  _ haunts his brother, every waking moment and beyond.

Five blinks to the kitchen, Klaus' bedroom, and the infirmary, collecting supplies as he goes-- juice, a wet rag, a comfy pillow. He can only hope that his brother won’t remember him caring for him when he wakes. 

**Author's Note:**

> oop! i'm ending this ambiguously because i'm a big bitch. I love five & klaus' (BROTHERLY!!!!!!!!) relationship.
> 
> comment please! and check out my other tua fics, i love them a lot. also, don't know how well the prompts apply to my actual work but also, I don't care. 
> 
> send me prompts @v-ennat


End file.
